Various footswitches are used to control microsurgical systems, and particularly ophthalmic microsurgical systems. During ophthalmic surgery, a surgeon views the patient's eye through an operating microscope while operating the system with both hands. To control the microsurgical system and its associated handpieces during the surgical procedure, the surgeon must either instruct another healthcare professional how to alter the machine settings on the surgical system, or use a footswitch to change the settings. When possible, many surgeons prefer to use the footswitch to alter the machine settings on the surgical system, eliminating or reducing the need to rely on another healthcare professional to adjust the system settings throughout the surgical procedure.
The footswitches typically have a foot pedal or foot treadle that is capable of movement by the surgeon in a given range of motion to provide linear control of the functions of the surgical system or an associated handpiece. This range of motion is typically segregated into several areas, each of which controls a different surgical mode or surgical function. As the treadle progresses from one position to another, the surgeon may be alerted to the shift in position by increased resistance or haptic feedback against his or her foot that allows him to tactilely distinguish various conditions of the microsurgical system without shifting his attention from the surgical field. In the footswitches supplying haptic feedback, the entire treadle is vibrated or moved in some other fashion to tactilely indicate to the surgeon the particular position of the treadle, and therefore the particular surgical mode, for example. Therefore, these footswitches often require a significant amount of power and/or large actuators to move the treadle to provide the haptic feedback.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved surgical footswitch supplying haptic feedback. The system and methods disclosed herein overcome one or more of the deficiencies of the prior art.